Project BLACK MAMBA: Fourth Sunday of Advent

'Tis the Fourth Sunday of Advent: Advent-link & Wikipedia-link.

Otherwise, 20 December would be the feast of Saint Dominic of Silos, Abbot, O.S.B. (1000-1073): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twould also be the feast of Blessed Vincent Romano, Priest (1751-1831): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Personal Reading
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-four (verses one thru fifty-one).

Mass Readings
The Book of Micah, chapter five, verses one thru four(a);
Psalm Eighty, verses two, three, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, & nineteen;
The Letter to the Hebrews, chapter ten, verses five thru ten;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter one, verses thirty-nine thru forty-five.

Mass Journal: Week Fifty-two
Reflection by Matthew Kelly, founder of the Dynamic Catholic Institute

Does it not strike you as a great poverty of leadership that here in America we cannot put one person on the evening news who can be acknowledged by Americans from coast to coast as a Catholic leader? Where is the "someone" who speaks for us? It is true that occasionally a cardinal or bishop effectively harnesses that media in his diocese & establishes a vibrant identity as a Catholic leader in his geographic area. It is also true that some lay Catholics who occupy positions of prominence in the business world, the entertainment world, or the political realm has successfully established a Catholic identity in different ways. But we have no national figures, not within the clergy & not among the laity. Does that not strike you as a massive poverty of leadership? Where is the Catholic leader who can speak to the people of our time in ways that are bold, brilliant, logical, articulate, & inspiring?

One cannot help but think of the late Venerable Fulton Sheen (1895-1979), Bishop of Rochester, who hosted the radio program The Catholic Hour from 1930-1951 & the television programs Life Is Worth Living from 1950-1957 & The Fulton Sheen Program from 1961-1968: Wikipedia-link. We have no Bishop Sheen today. The closest analog one can recall would be the Most Reverend Robert Barron, newly-installed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who works through "new media" via his Word on Fire Catholic Ministries: Bishop Barron-link & wordonfire.org-link.

But for all his good works, His Excellency Bishop Barron does not permeate the popular culture as Venerable Bishop Sheen did in his day. Of course, one must also acknowledge that Bishop Barron is facing a vastly different culture & a fragmented mass media. Who will be the Catholic leader for whom this week's reflection by Matthew Kelly calls? One does not know, but one hopes he or she will rise to prominence sooner rather than later.